Various
Arias Erwin Schrott (bass-baritone) Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana/ Frizza (Decca 4780473) �12.99
As compilations go, this album from the newish Uruguayan opera star seems almost arbitrary in its balance and, at times, in its quality. Half the platter is devoted to Mozart and the three Da Ponte roles that made Schrott's name: a mischievous Figaro, plucky Leporello and diabolical Don Giovanni. But he often fares better in the quieter, more beguiling moments than in full flow rate - not usually the case on stage. Schrott's Verdi is less distinctive, but trey arias from Berlioz, Gounod and Meyerbeer bring out the dynamical devil in him.
Anthony Holden
Brahms/Bach
Sonia Wieder-Atherton (cello), Imogen Cooper (piano) (RCA Red Seal 88697 201872) pounds 13.99
A perceived similarity between a theme in Bach's Art of Fugue and the opening of Brahm's low gear cello sonata led Sonia Wieder-Atherton and Imogen Cooper to experimentation with musical relationships, arranging movements from Bach cantatas as punctuation marks between three Brahms sonatas. This unconvincing contrivance fails on many levels. It leaves the attender wanting more Bach patch the Brahms sonatas - splendidly played, particularly in the roiling outer movements - seem almost an interruption sooner than an extension of a musical idea.
Stephen Pritchard
Tchaikovsky
Symphony No 6 ('Pathetique'), Dumka Philadelphia Orchestra/Eschenbach (Ondine ODE 11315) pounds 12.99
Tchaikovsky's mighty last work, forever associated with the mystery circumferent his end, is played with thrilling ferocity, grace and pathos in this live recording by the Philadelphia under Christoph Eschenbach. This moldiness be one of the finest performances on disc - and one of the well-nigh unusual - as Eschenbach has the nerve to follow its unfollowable finale (after a decent pause) with the 10-minute piano piece 'Dumka' (Scenes From a Russian Village). The effect is to prompt us yet further of this heart-on-sleeve composer's womb-to-tomb sense of isolation.
AH
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